This year I've promised myself a red hot go at reading the entire submissions list for all 3 of the Ned Kelly Categories. Preferably before the 2016 Submissions List is released although there are days when I think I might have bitten off more than I can possibly chew. Still - getting there :)

Starting out with the True Crime list because I CLEARLY have some work to do here:

Because it's been such a stellar year for Crime Fiction - a Most Memorable of the Year List before Christmas seems like a plan in case anybody is thinking about books to spoil themselves / friends / family with. Of course the year isn't over yet and I fully expect a few more "memorables" between now and the end of December, if the previous 11 months have been any indication.

Once upon a time in Melbourne there was a gigolo who thought he was a vampire. He bit the tongue off a prostitute and was then murdered in broad daylight on a suburban street. His execution, top brass believed, was organised by police. The aftershocks of this killing—and the murder of a state witness and his wife inside their fortress home—rocked the police force and the Parliament, vanquished one government and brought the next to its knees.

Book Review:

There was a point in the Melbourne Underworld Wars that things just got too complicated for anybody but the most assiduous follower to keep up with. The connections between the crooks, the cops, and all the permutations thereof were enough to make you hope somebody was keeping some sort of map. Fortunately it seems that Liam Houlihan was, and he's used it to weave some threads through the entire mess that are both surprising and decidedly sobering.

Using a clever metaphor for the reader to engage with, you are pulled instantly into a story that would be quite a thriller ride. If it wasn't true. As it is true the layers of connection are startling; and the level of game playing and the sheer number of fingers in pies is troubling to say the least. The amount of back room deals, obfuscation, setups and sheer silly buggers being played is amazing - even for a time in the State that you already knew had been littered with some seriously dodgy goings on.

ONCE UPON A TIME IN MELBOURNE is written in a lively, engaging style. It is true crime that tells a tale, readable and very easy to follow, yet detailed enough to give you a real feel for the players, and the games being played. This doesn't, however, lessen the loss of life, or the carnage left in the wake. It draws the connections between things that this reader had previously never considered, from the street, to the Underworld, through the police force and right into Spring Street. Frankly the games that were played at that level left the Underworld players looking like amateurs.

Whilst there's been a lot of books written about the various players from the Underworld side of the equation, this is the first that this reader can remember that takes that further. ONCE UPON A TIME IN MELBOURNE gives the reader a map of the connections, it lays out a sequence of events that seem to clarify much, and in the process it takes a good hard look at many a lot higher up in the food chain than you'd hope.

Once upon a time in Melbourne there was a gigolo who thought he was a vampire. He bit the tongue off a prostitute and was then murdered in broad daylight on a suburban street. His execution, top brass believed, was organised by police. The aftershocks of this killing—and the murder of a state witness and his wife inside their fortress home—rocked the police force and the Parliament, vanquished one government and brought the next to its knees.

Liam Houlihan is an award-winning journalist and former lawyer. He has reported from New York, Washington DC, from Sri Lanka after the tsunami, and Singapore for underworld figure Mick Gatto’s pursuit of missing Opes Prime money. He was the Sunday Herald Sun’s crime reporter for five years from 2007 until 2011 during the rise and fall of police chiefs Christine Nixon and Simon Overland. He is currently a News Editor at the Herald Sun.

Liam Houlihan is a multi-award winning journalist and former lawyer. He has reported from New York (for the NY Post), Washington DC (briefly in the White House Press Pool), from Sri Lanka after the Boxing Day tsunami, from Singapore for Mick Gatto's pursuit of missing Opes Prime money, and around the nation. He is Crime Reporter with the Sunday Herald Sun whose police and underworld exclusives are regularly syndicated around the nation.